Harold F. Koenig

Building Brand Community

A brand community from a customer-experiential perspective is a fabric of relationships in which the customer is situated. Crucial relationships include those between the customer and the brand, between the customer and the firm, between the customer and the product in use, and among fellow customers. The authors delve ethnographically into a brand community and test key findings through quantitative methods. Conceptually, the study reveals insights that differ from prior research in four important ways: First, it expands the definition of a brand community to entities and relationships neglected by previous research. Second, it treats vital characteristics of brand communities, such as geotemporal concentrations and the richness of social context, as dynamic rather than static phenomena. Third, it demonstrates that marketers can strengthen brand communities by facilitating shared customer experiences in ways that alter those dynamic characteristics. Fourth, it yields a new and richer conceptualization of customer loyalty as integration in a brand community.

Building a University Brand Community: The Long-Term Impact of Shared Experiences

ABSTRACT Relationship marketing has made its way into the practices of university administrations. With it have also arrived many problems associated with the aggressive use of CRM technologies. One particularly effective and healthy approach to relationship marketing in higher education is to treat the university, with all of its stakeholders, as a brand community, and to pursue policies and programs to strengthen the relationships that define the community. With this paper, we examine an important class of relationship often neglected in the CRM literature, i.e., the relationships among the customers who support the brand and who ultimately give it its meaning and vitality. Specifically, we explore how the nature of relationships among students affects their long-term loyalty to a university. The results of a telephone survey of university alumni demonstrate the importance of certain types of university experiences on student relationships and, thereafter, on loyalty to their alma mater and their intentions to support the university in the future.

Measuring the sources of marketing channel power: A comparison of alternative approaches☆

Abstract Researchers have employed two alternative approaches in measuring the sources of marketing channel power: (1) an indirect assessment through assistances and punishments and (2) a direct measurement of each specific power source. This study compares empirically the construct validity of both approaches. The results indicate that the reliability, the content validity, the within-method and across-method convergent validity, and the discriminant validity of both approaches are acceptable. While the a priori dimensionality of the direct approach was recovered, a dimension not hypothesized was found for the indirect approach to power source measurement. Because the direct power source measures were significantly related to the attributions of power while the indirect ones were not, the direct approach demonstrated better nomological validity. We were not, however, able to assess the impact of shared methods variance upon the validity of these measurement approaches. Overall, the direct approach to measuring the sources of marketing channel power appears to have greater construct validity.

Cross‐national differences in consumer response to the framing of advertising messages

Purpose – The purpose of this research was to examine how consumers in four Central European countries respond to positively and negatively framed message appeals in advertising.Design/methodology/approach – Emotional, cognitive and attitudinal reactions to four advertisements for food products were collected from matched homogeneous student samples in Croatia, The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. In addition to analysis of variance, a comprehensive structural equation model was tested separately for each country.Findings – The findings not only indicate different emotional, cognitive and attitudinal responses across countries, but additionally reveal differences in how positively versus negatively framed advertisements are being processed by consumers.Research limitations/implications – Across countries, the intertwined roles of emotions and cognitions in affecting consumer attitudinal response were generally confirmed, suggesting cross‐cultural robustness of the underlying advertising‐processing fra...

University Experiences, the Student-College Relationship, and Alumni Support

ABSTRACT University administrators have begun to more aggressively adopt many of the techniques associated with relationship marketing. This would seem like a perfect strategy for a university as loyal alumni can do such things as offer personal recommendations to help build enrollments, participate in alumni functions, purchase university-branded products, and enroll in professional education courses. However, there are many unexamined questions regarding the nature and impact of alumni relationships with the university. This paper explores the impacts of the alumni-university relationship and alumni assessments of their college experiences on important expressions of loyalty. A sample of alumni who had graduated three to eight years prior to the study completed a telephone survey. The results provide support for the impact of these variables on current behavior and behavioral intentions. Implications of these findings for university marketers are discussed.

Contextual influences: building brand community in large and small colleges

This research extends recent efforts that have introduced and empirically tested a conceptual model of brand community in the context of higher education. This emerging literature has indicated that brand community provides a framework that can inform and guide marketing investments in ways that lead to affinity and stronger loyalty to the brand and institution. This paper presents the results of a national survey that examines the potential impact that institutional size may have on the relationships of an alumni brand community. This paper also explores the implications of the size of the educational institution on relevant and desired marketing outcomes that include the willingness to recommend the university to friends and family and a desire to purchase licensed apparel.

Reaching Low-Income Mothers to Improve Family Fruit and Vegetable Intake: Food Hero Social Marketing Campaign-Research Steps, Development and Testing.

The objective of this study was to create/test a social marketing campaign to increase fruit/vegetable (FV) intake within Oregon Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligible families. Focus groups (n = 2) and pre/post campaign phone surveys (n = 2082) were conducted in intervention counties (IC) and one control county. Participants were female (86%–100%) with 1–2 children at home. Mean FV intake/without juice was 3.1 servings/day; >50% preferred the Internet for delivery of healthy eating information. Participants reported time/financial burdens, low household FV variety and desirability of frozen/canned FV, and acceptance of positive messages. A Food Hero (FH) campaign was created/delivered daily August–October 2009 to mothers through multiple channels (e.g., grocery stores, online, educators). Results showed that the IC had better FH name recall (12%) and interpretation of intended messages (60%) vs. control (3%, 23%, respectively). Compared to controls, the IC were less likely to report healthy food preparation as time consuming or a FV rich diet expensive, and it was easier to get their family to eat fruit. Results did not vary based on county/household characteristics. The FH campaign increased FH awareness and positive FV beliefs. A longer campaign with FV assessments will increase understanding of the target audience, and allow for campaign refinement.

Creating Brand Equity Through Strategic Investments

Brand equity is central to an understanding of the worth of any business, yet it exists in the minds of consumers as a mixture of awareness and image. To measure and understand how this equity is developed, mananged, and enhanced is central to all theories of value creation. This article looks at the concepts of brand identity, brand meaning, brand response, and brand relationship with an eye toward how the measure of brand equity correlates with and is influenced by technology equity, communication equity, and foreign strategic investments. Seventy-seven multinational firms are tracked through the years 1986-1988 and results are reported on based on R&D expenses, advertising costs, and investments in foreign subsidiaries.

Enhancing technology management through alliances

As part of a larger study, software firms in the Northwest US were surveyed on their alliances with: (1) suppliers; (2) firms that produce related products; and (3) firms that bought their products. The structure of alliances maintained by the firm was related to new product success. In addition, the climate of trust and commitment in the relationship was assessed.

Advancement in higher education: the role of marketing in building philanthropic giving

This paper empirically explores ways in which marketers of higher education can contribute to the important task of cultivating alumni philanthropy. Advancement professionals understand that philanthropy is influenced by wealth and affinity. As marketers, we anticipate that our contribution resides with investments in building affinity. Using survey data that measure the affinity of alumni of a large US university who have been commercially screened to reveal individual wealth, this paper provides empirical evidence of the relative contributions of affinity and wealth to giving. Logistic regression analysis reveals that affinity has a greater impact on predicting the likelihood of giving than other variables, including prior giving and wealth. Important to marketers, this study emphasizes the importance of building affinity and also uncovers obstacles to affinity formation. This information can be used to bridge and repair alumni relationships with their alma mater and inform segmented marketing communications to foster alumni enthusiasm for giving.